Hello, people of Tor.com! Some of you know me from my rereads of two mothers of modern fantasy, Melanie Rawn and Katherine Kurtz. I’m moving on now to a biweekly (or semiweekly) column on a subject that preoccupies me every day here on the farm: Horses!
From the time my grandfather sat me on a friend’s horse at six months old, I’ve been one with the tribe of horse people. I started riding in grade school, started high school with my first horse. I rode through college and grad school (and studied the horse in history, and of course wrote them into my fiction), then when I fled to the Arizona desert in search of peace, quiet, and low humidity, one horse led to two, then three, then a small breeding farm. When the economy collapsed, the breeding operation shut down, but the stallion and his mares for the most part stayed. They’re still very much a part of my life, and they’re my toughest critics when it comes to understanding the species.
For quite a few years I wrote the Horseblog at Book View Cafe, an ongoing discussion, reminiscence, and educational ramble around the history, lore, and science of the horse. I collected some of these essays into a short but useful ebook for writers, Writing Horses: The Fine Art of Getting It Right, but there’s much, much more where that came from.
I’ll talk about some of these topics here, but with a more distinctly sffnal slant—hence, “The SFF Equine.” That’s everything from how to write believable horses (and writers who do it right), to horses in film (and the actors who ride them, and the mistakes that perpetuate from film to film), to horses in fantasy and science fiction (yes: Ponies in Space!), and horses in gaming. Pretty much anything in genre that addresses or includes the equines, I’ll be there.
I take questions. If you have a question or a suggestion or an idea for a column, by all means post in the comments. I’m here to entertain and inform, and to share my enthusiasm for the subject.
What we have here is one of a few animal species that has lived in symbiosis with humans for millennia, and has been genetically modified to accommodate human needs and aesthetics. The history of war in many parts of the world is the history of the horse. So is the history of transportation, up until the age of mechanical transport.
The horse is unique in both its physical structure, which adapts well to pulling a vehicle and carrying one or more humans, and its psychology, which makes it particularly amenable to domestication. A horse even in its original, unmodified form is large and sturdy enough to be ridden (consider the Mongol horse, which is quite a bit on the small side by modern standards, but easily and consistently carries adult humans), and its speed and stamina make it possible for humans to travel long distances in a relatively short time. The ramifications of this for migration and war are significant.
None of that would have worked however if horses had not been innately cooperative. As prey animals they have a highly developed flight instinct, but they’re also herd animals, with a complex social structure and a clear but fluid hierarchy that adapts well to human intervention. The human trainer can overcome the reactivity and the impulse to hit warp thrusters at the first hint of a threat, by taking advantage of the cooperative instinct and the tendency to stay together with the herd.
The relationship can be strictly utilitarian—horse as transport or sports equipment—but many horse cultures have tended toward a kind of symbiosis of horse and human. The divine horse, the centaur, the horse warrior who evolved into the knight, all create and perpetuate a sense of the horse as something more than a domestic animal. The horse becomes a magical being; and so we come to Tolkien’s Shadowfax, Mercedes Lackey’s Companions, and ultimately, Anne McCaffrey’s dragons.
Our genre, especially the fantasy part of it, runs on horsepower. As much as the internet is made of cats, and the dog is man’s best friend, the horse is the dominant transport of countless fantasy worlds. Western writers particularly have difficulty imagining a preindustrial culture without the horse, it’s so prevalent in the underpinnings of their history and society.
This is true even while we’ve moved conclusively away from horse transport and cavalry warfare. Writers and readers who have had little or no physical contact with a horse still gravitate toward worlds in which the horse is an essential component. The mythos endures even while the reality slips into the past.
Not that the horse shows any sign of disappearing from the human world. Horses still serve as transport on at least six continents, and racing and various forms of recreation feed a substantial industry. (And horses literally feed humans and their carnivorous pets in various parts of the world as well.) Horses are large, expensive, and require acres of land to thrive, but people persist in making it happen. When we finally move en masse into space, I think we’ll find ways then, too, and reasons to preserve that particular form of interspecies cooperation.
Judith Tarr is a lifelong horse person. She supports her habit by writing works of fantasy and science fiction as well as historical novels, many of which have been published as ebooks by Book View Cafe. Her most recent short novel, Dragons in the Earth, features a herd of magical horses, and her space opera, Forgotten Suns, features both terrestrial horses and an alien horselike species (and space whales!). She lives near Tucson, Arizona with a herd of Lipizzans, a clowder of cats, and a blue-eyed spirit dog.
Exciting news. I’m ready to form up and ride with you into what your column brings.
Oh, thank you! There are so few books or movies that get the horses right – and most of the time, it’s because they don’t actually go into anything horse-related.
If you do a column looking at interesting or unusual examples of equines in SFF stories, you might want to look at those in P.C. Hodgell’s Kencyr stories—both the intelligent equines that some of the characters have, and the decidedly original twist on unicorns, the Rathorn, one of whom Jaime rides in later volumes.
Dare I admit how many books of unknown (to me) authors I have purchased based on the horse on the front cover of the book? And the joy when the author knows something about horses, too?
Oh, this is exciting. I’ve been hoping to see you again on Tor.com, and this series of essays sounds fantastic.
I know you from reading your books when I was younger, because HORSES :-)
My favorite discussion of literary horses was in Diana Wynn Jones’ Tough Guide to Fantasyland — apparently, based on the evidence, horses are some sort of plant life? I look forward to reading about some actual good examples of horse portrayals.
Hey, hi! Welcome, commenters familiar and new! I’m delighted to see so many already–having been out doing the morning barn thing when this post went live. Because we live what we hold forth on, around here.
I will make a note about the Hodgell series, which I know by author/title but have not read. And must reread the Wynne Jones; it’s been years. Thank you both, and keep the suggestions coming. This is a very broad subject, which is all to the good, since I hope to keep the series going for a while.
You should check out Caitlin Brennan’s White Magic series if you haven’t already, because her horses are definitely Lipizzans.
Also, Mary H. Herbert’s Dark Horse series.
Psst, #9.
I’m “Caitlin Brennan.” :)
Making note on Mary Herbert.
I’ve been re-playing Dragon Age: Inquisition lately, so thinking about horses (and harts, and dracolisks, etc) in games–so often they’re merely a slightly-faster way of moving around the map, but sometimes they do manage to have personalities and at least token efforts at realism. I was shocked, and guilt-stricken, the first time I got a horse killed in Skyrim by stumbling off a cliff. (Especially bc my cliff-stumble was accidental-on-purpose; my horses in DAI always survived the plunge!)
The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt at least gives its horse a name (Roach) and puts significant game-time into running races, upgrading saddles, saddlebags, and harness, even if Roach apparently spends most of her time in a pocket universe when not being ridden. And comparing Roach’s treatment in game to the horse(s) of the same name in the novels is really interesting.
Oh, yay.
Sheri Tepper’s Grass comes to mind.
And I love Herris Serrano learning to ride, as well as the tiny horses on the ship, by Elizabeth Moon.
I do not need to tell you that riding makes you feel that you have wings, speed, and power. But I also feel that the mental connection, the partnership, and the healing it can bring is not sufficiently documented in SFF. Horse brains are really important (although when the wind is up, the brain blows away).
@10 Capriole — then you’ve definitely read them! Heh! (I really loved the magic in that series.)
How about Doranna Durgin’s Changespell series, where the heroine is a horse?
@7 I was once on a panel with a writer who complained about other writers treating horses in their fiction “as if they were four-legged Chevrolets.”
Yay! I’m quite thrilled about these articles to come.
I worked for about six years side-by-side with horses (and yes, all my childhood things had horses on them. Sometimes I still get horsey-gifts. Come to think of it, I just have to share – the latest I got literally half an hour ago when visiting my brother. Just when we were leaving, my four-year-old niece came and gave me one of her toy horses because “her mom had bought it once but she had nothing to do with it” and she wanted me never to forget her, so she gave the horse to me as a keepsake. How cute is that! :D ) … err…. back to topic. I am very far from being remotely akin to a horse-expert, but since that job, I have looked at the horses in literature and movies with slightly different eyes and sometimes find myself commenting as many others here: “Hey, that is SO wrong!” And rejoice when they get things right, it is always a pleasure, or even if you see that at least they have tried.
I won’t jump ahead and wait patiently for the topics to unroll themselves in your articles, but it is a pleasure somebody is going to tackle these magnificent creatures. Let’s saddle up! :)
The heavenly horse from the outermost west and piper at the gates by Mary Stanton.
And I LOVED the dark horse series by Mary Herbert
This looks like a fun series!
@14 Russell H
I can actually see that being a useful comparison, aside from the fact that a Chevy can’t be a companion. Both are important means of transport and take a significant amount of money to own and maintain.
Looking forward to reading this column.
All the talk of horses in space reminds me of Notting Hill.
William: I enjoyed the movie very much. I was just wondering, did you ever consider having more horses in it?
Anna Scott: Well, we would have liked to. But it was difficult, obviously, being set in space.
My request would be an eventual list of “Authors Who Did Horses Best,” or “Most Realistic Depictions of Fantasy Horses,” or something like that.
I love there’s already been a recommendation for one of your own series! That has got to be a warm fuzzy feeling right there :)
Were you planning to stick to written horses, or include film and TV as well? There’s an excellent DVD extra on one of the LOTR extended editions (can’t recall which specific movie) about the horses used for filming.
As for literary horses, the mounts in the Wheel of Time are worth a mention. Many of them are memorable, and I actually named a cat Bela.
How about the Horseclans books by Robert Adams? The oldest is over 40 years old so there are definitely parts that could offend present day readers.
OBVIOUSLY Tamora Pierce. I mean, how could you not.
Also, holy crap, I had forgotten all about the Caitlin Brennan books I read as a kid until this very moment. I really liked them!
So wonderful to see you launch this sorely needed column! I am the head of the Mounted Combat Program at Academie Duello, where I also write a weekly blog on the subjects of Riding, Horsemanship, and Mounted Combat. Do feel free to contact me for material and reference, especially when it comes to horses and warfare.
All the best
JM Landels
The horse in Beauty by Robin McKinley is great, nearly another character, but still totally a horse.
You can’t be forgetting Harry Wakatipu, can you?
http://penguin.co.nz/books/the-lies-of-harry-wakatipu-9781775531258
He’s a very sociable horse working the Vast Untrodden Uraweras in the North Island of New Zealand, and he would love to be included in this discussion, do it please ya.
Great topic. I remember reading an interview/article by Brandon Sanderson in which he said he avoids incorporating horses into his worlds because he feels he’d never get them right. Looking forward to learning a thing or two.
Awesome! This so needs to be a topic for genre fiction writers. I don’t even know much about horses -only rode one a couple times- but I know the way they are usually written or used in genre fiction is sooo off.
Seems like it’s rare to have pack horses or remounts, or even feed and water them much.
@26 He’s got magic horses in Stormlight archive. That’s probably the approach I’d take if I needed to tell a story with a lot of horses. If I have to cheat, I might as well cheat all the way.
What about Stross’ Equoids? Does that count as horses? I mean, they’re unicorns.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned The Horse and His Boy from Narnia, I hope for other comments on Narnian horses as well.
I am happily collecting suggestions and recommendations and bits and bobs of things–#23, your program sounds like a ton of fun. I wish you were closer! I’d sign up.
Thanks to everyone for all the great input. When I proposed this column, I wasn’t sure there would be enough interest to make it go–even with Admin’s enthusiastic, “YES! Love it!” Clearly Admin is wiser than I.
There’s lots and lots to talk about. I can include games, though I’m not a gamer of any note–keep those reccos coming, please. And of course all those lovely book and film recs.
Also the Silver Brumby series by Elyne Mitchell.
And my favorite example of a fantastic over-the-top SF horse story, Walter Farley’s The Island Stallion Races, with its invisible spaceship. :)
@26 and @28 – considering how little Brandon has said to know about horses, I’d say he has done pretty good job not only with the Rhyshadiums but also with the ordinary horses – remember Bridge Four’s riding lessons? :)
@29 – I was thinking about Bree (and Hwin), but did not got to the point of mentioning them :) Definitely also support BaselGill @20 with LOTR and WOT horses (seems that Bela, indeed, lives :) )
I believe it would be easy to get enough equines to have a separate article on unicorns, one on pegasuses, one on other magic horses etc. Still, I have a suspicion that the most interesting ones are going to be the ones that deal with real, earthly horses and their realistic representation.
One thing I’ve always been curious about are the way horses are portrayed in novels set in ancient times. I thought I heard that horses used to be tiny. I could be wrong, but I wonder at what point horses were developed enough to be pack animals, ridden, or used for farming.
Maybe R. A. MacAvoy’s “The Grey Horse”, which is on my I-must-find-time-to-reread list.
@32 One of the things I’m looking forward to the most with Oathbreaker is finding out more about Rhyshadiums. More specifically how they appeared on Roshar and how Dalinar and Adolin bonded with theirs.
@33. It’s true. Roman horses, for instance, were fairly small, standing about 13-14 hands.
@29: Ana Mardoll’s Narnia deconstruction and its commenting community have extensively discussed and critiqued the portrayal of horses, Talking Horses, and horseback riding in The Horse and his Boy. I’d be glad to see the book covered here too.
I have ridden horses, could ride them again if I had too. But in my life they have mostly succeed in making my aching back grateful for motorized transport.
That said, I look forward to reading this as I am am sure that there is much that i can learn from it to better appreciate in fantasy, historical and SF works. Thank you for bringing this about.
You should check out Darragh Metzger; although they’re not as widely known as I think they should be, she knows horses! (http://www.darraghmetzger.com/) Her book, “The Strawberry Roan,” is a fantasy; her other fantasy books either have horses in them or revolve around horsy stuff: she and her husband are members (and founders, I believe) of the Seattle Knights, a medieval/fantasy/jousting horse group.
Oh, what fun! My first fantasy book ever was purchased because of the gorgeous white horse with blue eyes on the cover. I second the recommendation for The Heavenly Horse of the Outermost West by Mary Stanton (and the sequel Piper at the Gate.) I love these books, they are to horses what Watership Down is to rabbits and Tailchaser’s Song is to cats. Also in reference to comment 17 Halien, Chevys indeed cannot be companions, unless you’re Mercedes Lackey and the chevy in question is an eleven steed.
So interesting! I especially am interested in how horses are so important in Roshar despite all of the other animal life on the planet being so different due to the harsh environment. Your thoughts make me wonder if they’re kept as a way to make us readers connect to the world, to make it feel more real even as everything else is so different.
I recommend CJ Cherryh’s fantasy works, especially the Morgaine series and the nighthorse books. Her equines are always very, well, horsey. :-)
(happily taking more notes)
Oh goodness, Morgaine! Vanye! Siptah!
Those books shaped my youth.
So excited for this column! I have taken horseback riding lessons on and off for most of my life, and Breyer horses were some of my most cherished childhood toys.
I’m an aspiring writer, and of course horses are a must in my stories. :) I’m wondering if you could spend some time in one of your articles talking about how to care for horses on the road. Nowadays we have horse trailers, but what did people do before that? How bad is it if a horse stands out in the rain all night – do they need to be dry before you can put a saddle on them? In Little House on the Prairie, I remember they picketed their horses on the plains. What if you’re in a forest? What kind of gear is essential to bring along? How smart are horses about avoiding poisonous plants? In short, how do I go camping with horses?
Thanks so much!
I love this idea. My boy, Romeo, and I salute you. I read some interesting comments about how authors who don’t know horses write about horses (every hero rides a stallion) in the book “Medieval underpants and other blunders”. I’ve seen some of the same in fantasy. Though let’s face it, I wish my old mare had been a Companion.
There is a polaroid of me aged about 3 or 4 on the back of a shaggy pinto pony at the circus, first recorded image of me on horseback. Sadly I had to wait until adulthood to own my first horse, and I bought a 6 month old Arabian gelding who taught me a great deal about interacting with horses – he was a lovely boy my Bentley.
Yes I am often frustrated about the depictions of horses in books and movies – in fact my two copies of The Wind in Cairo are my prize possessions – I stumbled across one in a secondhand shop and they are impossibly rare to find here in NZ – in fact a complete stranger posted me my second copy after reading a comment I had made online about it :)
Elyne Mitchells Silver Brumby series – written about brumbies living in the Australian bush – were the defining horse books of my childhood- as were the Pullein-Thompsons, Black Beauty (OMG so SAD!) Marguerite Henry, Walter Farley and the list goes on.
I backed your Kickstarter and truly enjoyed Horses of the Moon too :)
And yet more notes!
#45 Hobbit: I’ve saved your questions for future columns. In the meantime, my Writing Horses (available from various ebook sellers plus Book View Cafe) addresses many of them. I also highly recommend Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army. Short, concise, thorough, and incredibly useful for anyone who wants to write about horses on the march. It’s in print–I haven’t looked to see if there’s an electronic version–and well worth the price of admission.
I love horses–and mules. (Jake, the mule, is a favorite.) Horses populate Detour Trail, a western, and my SF stories set on planets that have been colonized.
Whinney from Jean Auel’s Earth’s Children series!
I look forward to reading more about you/horses/horses in fantasy/horses whatever way you want to write about them. I’m a retired Arabian horse breeder and endurance rider, and I tell you, there is nothing like being out in the middle of nowhere, just you and a good horse, and miles to go before you reach civilization.
Anybody read the book Frog, the Horse That Knew No Master, by Col. S.P. Meek (1933)? True stories, and one of the first books about horses I ever read, even before Black Beauty or National Velvet. I named the very first horse I owned Froggie because of that book. My Froggie was amazing. Horses are amazing. Like Ms. Tarr, I still have a stallion and some retired broodmares, and I am still learning from them.
the horse in Cordwainer Smith’s Gem Planet.
“Do you understand what death is?” “Certainly. No-horse.”
i fell in love with horses when, as a kid, I read “Airs Above the Ground” by Mary Stewart. After that, I drove my dad crazy until finally he bought my brother and I a small mare, Beauty was her name. She was smart as a whip…she could open the water faucet to get water in her water bucket, she could roll over and play dead, she could kneel on command. We loved her! We had to sell her when our area was rezoned…..no horses and sadly no stables anywhere to keep her. Broke our hearts!
After that, our parents made it a point to take us to where the Lippizan stallions performed and I became a horse book fanatic. National Velvet, Black Beauty, Misty, King of the Wind, The Red Pony, The Black Stallion? Mine, all mine! Then I discovered horses in fantasy! Oh boy! More! Many more books to buy! I till have most of them stored in bins.
I can’t wait to read your column. I hope it’s a regular thing!!
There’s also lots of horsemanship in Harold Lamb’s Cossack adventure stories (the first collection is Wolf of the Steppes). Admittedly, they were non-fantastical historical adventures written in the 1920s, but Lamb was a major influence on Robert E. Howard, and Lamb’s stories scratch a lot of the same itches that fantasy scratches for me.
In Dead Heat the characters go to a horse show to buy a horse. Between chasing a child-stealing fae they keep coming back to looking at horses and watching the horse show, and a horse plays an important part in the climax.
Perfect timing for me to see your new feature on horses in sf and fantasy. Just last week we watched the 2011 Three Musketeers with Mila, etc., and I was totally entranced with the gorgeous black and white steed called “Buttercup”, which resembled a neighbor’s horse I’ve called the Dalmation. With those lovely, hairy hooves, I think that was the most handsome horse I’ve ever seen in film, and I still have not tried to locate the breed or history of this fabulous equine.
@17 Who says a Chevy can’t be a companion? [But that’s a different series of columns…]
Lois M. Bujold has some convincing ‘Horses in Space’ in the Vorkosigan series, significantly in “Barrayar” and “The Mountains of Mourning”.
@56, according to this link: http://www.horseforum.com/horse-talk/what-breed-horse-three-musketeers-102189/
the horse you are talking about is a Danish Knabstrupper stallion named Pluto :)
@53: Every other week for as long as Tor.com wants to keep me. :)
@54: Khlit the Cossack! I loved those.
@56 and 58: I wondered if that was a Knabstrupper. They aren’t usually feathered, but hey. Also it’s amusing his name is Pluto, and interesting because I heard from a source in the Spanish Riding School that the “white” ancestor of the Pluto Lipizzaner line, who was foaled in Denmark in 1765, might have been a few-spot leopard. He was of Spanish blood, but who knows what else might have been in there? (I have a Pluto stallion, but he’s homozygous grey with seal bay and a big star underneath, so no evidence of spotty heritage there.)
Oh, what about the talking horses in Gulliver’s Travels?
A recorded, abridged version of Black Beauty was my first intro to fictional horses. Cue weeping hysterics for death of Ginger. Despite that, I kept reading about them.
Although the book Marianne Dreams only has a little about horses in the beginning, I think the author understood girls like me. I love how the heroine is imagining her first riding lesson, from being mastering it all in an hour to the vicious and unsafe Arabian that becomes docile as soon as she speaks to it (though none of those things happen, the riding master says she seems to take to it naturally, “which was as much as anyone in their senses could hope for.”)
One of the less famous fantasy horse series is The Horsemistress Saga by Toby Bishop. It’s got some story weaknesses, but I think the author knows her horses (although the flying horses have a few unicorn-like traits, they can only be ridden by women and lose it if their rider gets pregnant).
Robin McKinley’s books are full of horses, too many to mention, although she might not have understood the battle advantages of stirrups.
Anne McCaffrey’s dragons even have horse-like heads (or was what that you meant)?
Of course, the worlds of Final Fantasy have successfully replaced the horse with the chocobo.
@62 McCaffrey based her dragons on the stallions of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna and the bond they have with their riders. I have Lipizzaners and can assure you, they do Impress. :)
Katherine Kerr’s Deverry cycle shows her love of horses and of the rather unique and amazing golden and silver effect the Akhal Teke Horses have. =) She even made her elves into nomadic horse tribes.
I loved those books as a teenager (94-95) and on ro her last book in thr cycle. It happened to coincide with finally finally getting riding lessons from my new neighbor after a lifetime of pining and parents ignoring me.
It was a joy for 2 years and I will always love and remember Springer and his brother Rue. American Saddlebreds and Springer was an ex endurance champ and the best teacher a girl could have. Brave and intelligent and still independent enough to make sure I learned how to be in charge. And his owner got me started on natural horsemanship. I am forever grateful and as my health improves I hope to be back on horses soon.
In the mean time I read and write! And I am definitely looking forward to your essays.
One story you might enjoy is Sue Ann Bowling’s Horsepower. It’s set in her Confederation Universe, and imagines space colonists who have been denied mechanized tools and are about to discover how horsepower can save the day.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AYLJ4QG/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2CMMYW8G83BIA&coliid=I2ONJ301QBP96H
Sadly, Dr. Bowling died before many of her other novels came out, but this is a nice introduction to the main characters of the ones that are now out.
Wait, was that Ann Bowling, the geneticist? I was online buds with Michael for years, trading breeder war stories, and with Ann more tangentially. I had no idea about the fiction . Snagged it! Thanks so much.
…OK, not the same tragically deceased Bowling color geneticist with Ann in her name, how strange. But I look forward to reading her book.
Also, Alan Dean Foster’s Pericles (Dream Done Green – a short story). Loved the story, the reason for writing it, and that last line…sniff…
What I great idea! I’m totally ignorant about the subject matter, but when I read the most excellent To Ride Hell’s Chasm by Janny Wurts, I totally loved the way the horses were portrayed, they were as well-rounded and expressive as their human companions.
I’m really glad to see a column like this. I’ve grown up around horses and they were even used, probably super irresponsibly, to help my colic as a baby. I’ve been riding for decade, on the flat-ish trails in my surrounding counties, and I’ve been hurt by horses more times than I care to admit, but I still can’t imagine being without them.
I don’t know how many guys are posting on here. I grew up around guys that rode, and am a guy myself. However, every podcast I listen to or article I read seems to imply that mostly women are into horses. I can testify to the fact that there are guys that like horses, as well.
I love seeing horses in literature. My first intro into reading novels, and not children’s books, was when I was 11yrs old. My dad took me to a library book sale where they stack up your books, measure the spines and charge you a certain price per inch. He loaded my basket up with books he loved when he was younger. This included, among other things, Piers Anthony’s “Apprentice Adept” series. The first book is titled “Split Infinity” and has a guy fencing with a unicorn on the cover. Of course this is the book I started with and I haven’t stopped since. I haven’t been with out a book to read since then.
From the unique, musical, and shape-shifting unicorns of “Split Infinity”, I read other great horse stories, including: the Misty of Chincoteague books, Pern (I know, dragons and not horses, but they’ve been mentioned already.), David Eddings’ “Belgariad” and “Malorian”, WOT (Go, Bela!), along with many others.
My biggest pet peeve with horses in literature is that they aren’t made bigger players
in the story. Like a previous commenter said, they’re just treated as Cadillacs.
A horse has lots of personality and they definitely can provide conflict, which is what a good story has. Two of my boys, that I trained myself are super friendly and inquisitive. I’ll be repairing an electric fence and they’ll pull tools out and hand them too me. Usually not the right tool, and I usually don’t need all of them pulled out, but it’s the thought that counts, right? Then I’ll look up and they’ll have unspooled a 100′ of rope.
My point is that they are characters and should be treated as such. The most recent example I can think of are L.E. Modisett’s “Imager” books. I really like them. However, the last three, in particular, that I read don’t work for me in the horse department. The character goes up and talks to his horse, a horse by the way that carries him through all kinds of trials in 3 books, and talks to it twice. Then he mourns at it’s death. There were so, so many opportunities to make that horse a character. I couldn’t take it when an artillery shell explodes so close it almost vibrates him out of the saddle and the horse doesn’t move. I don’t care if you say it’s a bomb proof war horse, which it’s not because he got if from a farm, it’s going to jump. It’ll calm down quickly, but it’s going to. This could have easily deposited him on the ground and put him in a bad situation he needs to get out of, making the book better. Lots of books have this failing and I love it when I see a horse as more of a character. They don’t need to be magical or super intelligent to be a great and interesting character.
I also am tired of seeing character that run their horses for miles and miles. Unless your horse is in condition, you’re going to kill it doing that. That’s as bad as movies where they take a gun with a clip and fire it for 5 min straight. Realism lends conflict that makes a better story. WOT handled it pretty realistically. I remember a scene where some shineren warrior were trying to catch some people, but instead of running the horses full out for hours, they trotted them and alternated running beside them. Much more realistic. And for any WOT and Bela fans out there, how bad did you feel for Loial’s horse. :))